Time Squared
by ryhoyarbie
Summary: The Ghostbusters keep on repeating the same events over again and have to find a way to solve the problem.
1. Chapter 1

The Ecto-1 made its way through the busy streets on a typical Friday night. As the car continued on its course, it passed several cars going to various destinations and people walking on the sidewalks to get to the next point on their trip.

Doctor Peter Venkman, the sarcastic member of the famous Ghostbusters and who typical acts like a would be leader per say, was driving Ecto-1 while Winston Zeddemore, the so called everyman who had more common sense then the other three busters combined, rode shotgun. Both busters were in civilian clothing, coming back from renting movies.

As Peter was driving, Winston was looking through the various movies they rented for everyone. "We've got 'Scientific Queries of the Lonely Scientist' for Egon," Winston said as he was going through the movies.

"Pssss," Peter groaned. "That figures."

Winston continued. " 'Old Yeller' for Ray."

"Double that figures," Peter continued. "Ray's been a sucker for sappy movies since I met him in college. Must be why he hasn't had a date since then."

Winston peered over at Peter. "For you, we've got 'Lovers Love Everyone Including Fools'. That describes your love life Peter."

Peter glanced over and saw Winston letting out a smile.

"And finally," Winston continued, "I have 'Mysteries Never Solved'."

"Mysteries never solved, huh," Peter responded. "That explains why I decided to go with you to pick up the videos. Should have had Ray take my place, but nooooooo, he's at the gym trying to lose a few extra pounds just because the mirror disagrees with him."

"Say man, I think it's admirable that Ray is at the gym. I suggest we might want to do the same thing," Winston was getting at something, to which Peter probably knew the answer to.

"And what would that be my dear Mr. Zeddemore?"

"With you eating all that fast food all the time, it's surprising that you're not putting on extra weight," Winston said. "Sooner or later if you keep on eating all that junk, you're going to end up with a belly."

Peter sighed as he continued to drive. "Thanks mom."

*********

As they continued their trek to the firehouse, the spare PKE meter suddenly went off. Winston grabbed the meter, which was between him and Peter, and started reading it.

"Shut that thing off will you, we're off for the night," Peter stated.

"Sorry Pete, but this thing is cooking," Winston said. "The meter is picking up an ecto signature up ahead. Turn left."

Peter did not want to be bothered with catching ghosts for the night. It had been a brutal week and he wanted a night to himself without the worry of work, another night of taking a job. However, as much as he wanted to ignore Winston, he couldn't and complied with Winston's request. He spun the driver's wheel and turned left.

As Ecto-1 was approaching the point, Peter slowed down as he and Winston both saw people running away from a building which was a bakery.

Winston pointed to the building. "The meter is saying the ghost is in there."

"Funny, I could have sworn what gave it away were all the people screaming for their lives," Peter sarcastically stated the obvious.

The car stopped and both men got out and went to the back of the car to put on their proton packs. As they approached the building now by foot, Winston looked at the meter to see the registry of the ghost. "Class six spook Peter," he said.

Peter grabbed the proton thrower from the back and hit the charge button, which made the entire pack come to life. As the two men walked in the bakery, they saw a purple skin colored ghost with blue hair, three eyes, and four sets of arms and hands devouring cakes, cookies, pastries, and anything it could get its hands on.

Peter and Winston were about to puke. "This thing could give Slimer a run for his money," Peter said. He nodded at Winston, who at this point had also taken his thrower from the back of his proton back, and both began to fire at the ghost. The ghost cried out as it darted away from both ghostbusters and headed out the bakery.

"Quick, get it!" Winston shouted as he and Peter went chasing after the ghost. The spook flew past the two and went into the alley. Both ghostbusters were on alert as they both searched around. Winston, having the PKE meter with him, got it out and began scanning the area for the ecto signature of the ghost. He quickly got a reading and motioned for Peter, showing him where the ghost was.

As the two quietly approached a group of trashcans, the ghost quickly flew out of one of them, grabbed a lid, and flung it at the two busters. Winston and Peter managed to dodge the trashcan but couldn't help it when they both got slimed by the ghost. The thing laughed as he turned around, looking at the two slimed people, and quickly flew away into the sky.

"Yuck!" Peter cried out as he wiped some slime off of his face. Like Winston, his head to his upper body was covered in ecto plasmic residue. "I think that was intentional."

"Man, that thing moves fast," Winston said as he could only stare at the sky the ghost darted into.

"Speaking of which, we better do the same and get back to headquarters before they send watch parties after us," Peter started to walk back to the car.

**Fire House**

The Ecto-1 pulled up into the garage of the headquarters of the ghostbusters. Peter walked up to Janine Melnitz, the ghostbusters secretary who was sitting in her chair behind the desk and blowing a bubble from the bubble gum she was chewing, and placed the keys to the car on her desk.

Janine glanced over at Peter. "What took you so long Doctor V?"

"We ran into an all night mob who wanted our autograph."

Winston shook his head. "We ran into a ghost. The thing was just too fast for us to get it." He placed the bag of movies on Janine's desk. "But we did get the videos."

"A ghost huh," Doctor Egon Spengler said as he walked up the stair that went directly to the containment unit. Doctor Ray Stantz was behind him supporting a workout towl around his neck.

"Wow a ghost," Ray was always enthusiastic when it came to all things about his job. "Did you get a reading of it? What class was it?"

"It was a class of nasty Ray, slimy and nasty," Peter padded the man on his shoulder.

Winston answered the man's question. "It was a class six ghost Ray."

As soon as he said that Slimer appeared making his way right next to Peter, the man he slimed at the hotel sometime prior the battle with Gozer.

"Speaking of which," Peter rolled his eyes over trying to not look at the giant green glob of goo.

"Let movie night begin gang" Ray smiled as he and the rest of the gang headed up the stairs to the living.

"Oh boy!" Slimer said in delight with best pronunciation he had. "Mowies and popsorn, popsorn and mowies. Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!"

Peter shook his head and looked back at Ray. "Can we throw him in the containment unit for the night?"

****************

After watching a few movies and watching Slimer eat all the snack food, the ghostbusters went to bed and Janine went home for the night.

************

Ecto-1 was slowly but surely making its way through the streets of New York City on a Friday night.

"We've got 'Scientific Queries of the Lonely Scientist' for Egon," Winston said as he was going through the movies.

There was a brief pause as Winston stopped talking, looked down at the rented movies, and then at Peter. Although he couldn't put a finger on it, Winston knew something was wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter looked at Winston while trying to drive and keep an eye on the road. "What's the problem Winston?"

"Pete, do you ever experience déjà-vu?"

"Only when a date goes bad," Peter joked.

Winston shook his head. "Nah man, I just have this strange feeling that we've done this before."

Peter did not know what his friend was getting at. "If you're talking about renting movies, we haven't done that in over a month."

Winston couldn't explain what was going through his mind but tried the best he could. "I just have the strangest sense you and I were here before driving back from renting movies and that I was going through the list of movies and you making you're usual low brow remarks."

"Low brow"? Peter raised an eyebrow at the man.

"It's probably nothing, just keep driving," Winston said as he settled back into his seat.

**************

Sometime after as the guys were continuing to make their way back to the fire house, the P.K.E. meter between the two started to go off. Winston picked up the device and looked at the reading. "We've got a reading up ahead Pete. Turn left".

Peter groaned.

"Yeah I know this is our night off and you want me to shut this off, but….."

Peter glanced over at Winston. "How did you know I was about to say that?"

Winston shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"Is the meter picking up what class level the ghost is?" Peter asked.

"Not yet."

"I have a feeling it's going to be a class six ghost," Peter theorized.

"That's strange, I was going to say the same thing," Winston knew something was wrong. "I don't think this should be normal for both of us."

"Normal no, but in our line of work anything is possible," Peter said as he stopped the car.

Both men saw people running out of a bakery screaming as the grabbed their proton packs. As Winston looked at the meter, he looked over at Peter. "We were right Peter, the ghost in there is a class six."

"Once we get done with this, we need to talk to brains about all of this," Peter was jokingly referring to Egon.

As they approached the ghost, they saw it eating anything it could, including cakes, cookies, and pastries. The two busters were about to gag in the sight they saw.

"This thing could give Slimer a run for his money," Peter said.

"Alright, powering up the packs," Winston said. "Get ready," he said as he and Peter pointed their throwers at the ghost. "Fire!"

The ghost cried out as the particle streams his him. He quickly broke lose and flew out the back into the alley.

"Quick, get it!" Winston headed up the roundup.

The two searched around the back alley trying to figure out where the ghost was. Winston grabbed the P.K.E. meter and pinpointed where the ghost was. He looked at Peter and pointed at the nearby trashcans.

The ghost came out and flew one of the trashcan lids at the two.

"Winston get down!" Peter said as he saw the ghost approaching them. By sheer luck, the two avoided getting slimed this time and saw the ghost flying away. Peter looked at the ghost and then back at Winston. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Winston said as he got himself back up. "Good thing you told me to duck, otherwise that ghost would have slimed us. By the way, how did you know anyway?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, I just had this feeling come over me."

"We better talk to Egon about all of this," Winston and Peter started to head back to the car.

**Fire House**

"And after that, Peter told me to get down to avoid getting slimmed and that's when the ghost flew away," Winston said as he was seated in Egon's lab along with the other ghostbusters, Janine, and Slimer. "I tell you man, Peter and I have been having this strange feeling ever since we were driving back from renting movies."

Egon's left eyebrow raised up slightly. "Hmmm."

"That's all you can get from all of this, just an hmmm?" Peter questioned.

Egon began to explain. "I'm trying to gather up my thoughts on what happened to you and Winston tonight Peter."

Janine suddenly had a thought. "You know, I thought I was experience a repeat of events. I was reading the newspaper earlier about a story on a bank robber yesterday. I put down the paper and told myself that I bet the guy didn't get away because his car was having engine trouble. Sure enough I began reading again and the man did have engine trouble with his car and got captured by the police."

"I thought I was watching a repeat of a program I saw earlier while I was on the treadmill tonight running and even knew some of the lines the actors were saying. But in the end the announcer said it was a new episode," Ray said.

"Egon," Janine looked at the scientist, "this can't happen, can it?"

Egon shook his head. "Although people every once and a while get a feeling of déjà vu, the feeling of events repeating, this feeling shouldn't occur with several people in a day. "I myself felt a feeling of repeating time when I was checking the equipment on the containment unit."

"So what do we do?" Winston asked.

Egon moved over to his computer and started to type. The others followed and watched what Egon was trying to do. "I'm using the computer to scan for a temporal displacement, if there is one, to prove what's been happening to us." Egon explained.

"Your computer can do such a thing?" Peter never even thought a device could do something like that.

"Yes, as well as pinpoint which pizza parlor in Manhattan serves the best pizza," Egon joked, though the others weren't sure if Egon was serious or not.

"Pizza, oh boy!" Slimer started to lick his lips, or what passed as lips around his mouth.

"Down boy down," Peter shook his head at the ghost.

Ray looked at Winston. "Does it seem like we've done this before?"

Winston shook his head. "I've never experienced us looking for a temporal dis…dis….oh whatever it is we're trying to find."

"Temporal displacement," Egon felt the need for correction.

"Thanks Egon," Winston rolled his eyes.

"My pleasure," Egon didn't know Winston was just playing with him.

After a few moments, the computer did confirm what the others had been experiencing. "Looks like our theory was right," Egon responded.

"So what do we do now?" Janine asked.

"We got to find why we're repeating the same events over and over again and what's causing it," Egon responded to the question. He started to do some more searching on his computer. "I got it! Looks like the temporal displacement has a focal point at a house off of Belview Drive."

"That was fast," Peter said.

"Then what are we waiting for," Ray replied. "Let's get going!"

***************

Ecto-1 was making its way through the neighborhoods. The area was one of the rougher parts of New York where crime had taken over. Egon was driving while Ray was riding shotgun. Winston and Peter were in the back.

"Man this place looks so bad I bet even ghosts are afraid to come here," Winston said as he was staring at the old houses, most of them boarded up.

Although it was nighttime, Ray was looking at all the street signs to find Belview Drive. After driving down several streets, they finally arrived at the street and house in question.

The house was an old two story of a shack which looked like an old farmhouse, with boards on most of the windows. The paint job was white but it was decaying because of the ravaging of time.

Ray glanced at the P.K.E. meter. "We got a solid reading on the temporal displacement gentlemen."

"Why couldn't the temporal thing-a-ma-jig be in a nice neighborhood," Peter sighed. "You know with a pool, food, pretty women."

"Temporal displacement," Egon felt the need to correct again.

"Thank you Egon," Peter's eyes narrowed at the blond haired ghostbuster.

"You're welcome." Egon replied back.

Peter lifted up his hands as he was about to strangle Egon but was stopped by Winston. "We'll do that later man."

All four ghostbusters got out of Ecto-1, grabbed their proton packs, and walked up the house.

"Should we knock or just ring the doorbell?" Peter asked in his usual sarcastic humor. However, the door merely opened by itself slowly. "Looks like someone's expecting us," Peter looked at the others.

The ghostbusters went inside. Egon was looking at the meter while the other three had their throwers out just in case. "We need to go upstairs," Egon was responding to what the meter was saying.

"We sure can't go downstairs," Peter joked, though Egon ignored his comment.

The ghostbusters moved up the stairs and into one of the rooms the readings were coming from. As they walked into the room, they saw the ghost Peter and Winston had battled earlier.

"Well look who it is," Winston said.

"Winston, is this the ghost you and Peter fought earlier?" Ray asked.

"The same one," Winston answered.

Egon looked at the meter and then back at the ghost and theorized what was going on. "It seems this ghost can control time for a small fraction."

"Yeah, but why?" Ray was curious.

The ghost's eyes glowed red and started to laugh. He then disappeared from the busters's sight.

"He's not the best host I've met," Peter said. "Didn't even offer us any food or drink."

"You were foolish to track me down………" An eerie voice echoed throughout the room.

Suddenly the P.K.E. meter started to go nuts. Egon looked at the device and looked back the others. "This ghost's ecto signature is now a class ten."

"You mean this thing only pretended to be a class six?" Winston looked at Egon.

"Precisely," Egon replied back.

"But why the deception?" Ray did not have a clue.

"To bring you here and eliminate you once and for all!" The eerie voiced continued.

Suddenly the house started to shake. The walls started disappear and the ground started to disappear also and the entire building started to vibrate with red. Peter quickly moved to the window followed by the other three. He grabbed on as the floor finally vanished. Ray latched onto Peter, then Egon, and then Winston.

"I'm not having any fun here!" Peter cried out.

"I can't believe this ghost used this plan to trap us here and kill us," Winston said as he continued to hold onto Egon's waste.

Suddenly a large tongue appeared beneath the four ghostbusters and moved towards them. Winston felt something grab his boot and looked down. "Don't look now guys, but I think we're going to be the main course."

A mouth appeared with glowing red eyes that connected to the tongue.

"I don't think I can hold on any longer!" Peter cried out.

Suddenly Ray's watch started to go off. "Looks like it is midnight fellas."

Peter finally couldn't hold on any longer and all four ghostbusters started to fall and screamed for their lives as they were going into the ghost's mouth. However, as they were falling, they and the ghost disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

The Ecto-1 continued its track through the hustle and bustle of the busy streets of New York City on a Friday night. Peter was driving while Winston was riding shotgun and going through the movies they had rented for the night.

We've got 'Scientific Queries of the Lonely Scientist' for.....," Winston stopped and looked at Peter.

"Something wrong?"

"Peter, does it feel like we've done this before?" Winston looked baffled.

Peter thought for a moment. "Now that you mentioned it, yeah, it does seem like we've had this conversation before."

"Sounds like a real case of déjà vu for the both of us," Winston added. "We need to get back to ghostbusters central and pronto."

As Peter continued to drive, he had another thought while trying to concentrate with the mayhem of traffic surrounding him. "I think we're supposed to find a ghost pretty soon too."

Things seemed to click for the both of them. "Yeah, I believe a class six ghost, but we don't catch him," Winston added.

"How about we avoid trying to bag the ghost and proceed back to the firehouse," Peter decided to change the events that weren't followed the last two time the busters went through this situation.

**Fire House**

The Ecto-1 pulled in and the two got out and approached Janine who was sitting reading a newspaper while chewing bubble gum.

"Where's Egon Janine?" Peter asked.

"Down in the containment system with Ray," the secretary said. "Hey, you two want to know something weird?"

"Egon finally said he loved you?" Peter was trying to be humorous.

Janine shook her head. "No Peter. But as you guys just pulled up, I was reading this news story about this bank robber and….'

Winston interrupted. "Let me guess, the bank robber had engine trouble, got captured by the police, and you had this strange feeling you've read the article before."

Janine nearly did a double take and her mouth dropped. "You're right Winston. How did you know?"

"I think we've had this conversation before," Winston replied. He and Peter knew something was now definitely going on now.

"You know, I just thought of something," a little light in Peter's brain came on. "You could always make money telling people's fortune."

Winston brushed off his friend's comment. "Let's go get Egon."

****************

All four ghostbusters, Janine, and Slimer had gathered around Egon's lab just like the second time they were repeating events.

"So as you two were coming back from the video store, you thought you had done that before and also thought you've already had that conversation," Egon was trying to make a detailed analysis of what was going on.

Peter and Winston nodded.

"And as you guys got back, Janine was trying to tell you about the article she read and you Winston told her and Peter what she was going to say and that she had experienced reading that article before," Ray added to the analysis.

"Yeah," Winston answered, "and like I said, it's all weird."

Peter turned to Egon. "What's going on boy genesis? I find it odd this is happening."

Egon got up and went to his computer. The others followed him. "I don't know Peter, but it seems time keeps on repeating. "As I was about to check the equipment on the containment unit, I had this feeling…."

"Let me guess," Peter interrupted, "you and a feeling you've done that before."

Ray added his own experience to the conversation. "And I was running on the treadmill tonight, I…."

"You were watching a television show which was brand new but thought it was old because you knew some of the dialogue," Janine knew what Ray was thinking about.

"Well yeah," Ray could only say that despite being a little freaked out that Janine knew what Ray was going to say.

"This is definitely strange," Egon didn't know what was going on but was determined to figure out what was happening. He started typing on the keyboard. "I think we're dealing with some sort of temporal displacement here. I'm using the computer to try to find the exact location, if it is what I think it is, of some sort of central focal point."

Peter was impressed. "And can it find a good pi……"

"Yes Peter, it can find the best pizza parlor in town," Egon didn't even glance at Peter as he continued looking at the computer. Somehow he knew Peter would say that.

Peter looked at Slimer who was licking his ghost lips. "And don't you even think about Pizza Slimer. It's bad enough you eat us out of house and home."

Slimer's features nearly dripped out of him as the smile he had turned into a frown thanks to Peter's words.

Ray smiled back at the green spud. "It's okay Slimer, when we get through this I'll get you your own pizza."

That excited Slimer as he nearly went over to kiss Ray.

"This is why he is the way he is thanks to you," Peter gave Ray an unpleasant look of a parent who spoils his child too much.

"The computer picked up the focal point of the temporal displacement," Egon said. "It's in a neighborhood in the southern part of town called Belview Drive."

"Better get the bullet proof vests out. It might be one of those nights," Peter knew all to well the south side of New York wasn't friendly to anyone, not even ghosts.

**************

"I've got the directions," Ray said as he and the others were getting ready to go.

Janine had a concerned face, as she always does when the guys went on dangerous cases. "Be careful Egon."

Peter walked past Janine and looked at her smugly. "We will. Thanks for the concern for all of us."

Janine just sighed as she brushed another one of Peter's sarcastic remarks aside.

Egon, who was looking over one of his P.K.E. meters, looked back at the secretary, blushed slightly, and nodded.

"So do you know where we're going Ray?" Winston said.

"Ask me no lies Winston," Ray responded. "I've got the map right here."

"Good thing because I'm not going to be navigator," Peter opened up the passenger side door behind the drivers seat. "I'm going to go beddy-bye while we get there."

"I'll drive," Winston said as he slid in the driver's side. Egon rode in the front, still messing around with the meter while Ray was in the back with Peter who was falling asleep.

The car took off as Janine and Slimer looked on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Nighttime **

Winston was driving the Ecto-1 while Egon was using his P.K.E. meter as a tracker to get to the temporal readings considering it was dark outside. Ray was also playing navigator in the back looking at the directions of a map to find the street in question while Peter was sound a sleep snoring.

"I wish he'd stop doing that," Winston said as he continued to drive.

Egon was now getting some readings that sparked the meter. "Turn left Winston."

"Hey," Ray groaned, "I was just about to say the same thing!"

Winston acknowledged and the car headed left to another block.

The three ghostbusters sill awake had this strange feeling come over them like they've been through this situation before, but couldn't say how the situation turned out previously. It would have helped for them to know what they were up against and what could happen and more importantly, what needed to be done to stop the repeat of events. However, this was never going to come as they had no grasp of being a psychic that could tell the events of the future.

As they approached the address of the house in question, Winston put on the breaks as soon as he heard Egon say stop, followed by Ray muttering that he was about to say the same thing too.

"Peter wake up," Ray looked at his friend half asleep.

"Uh….," Peter groaned. "Is it morning already? Do I have to get up? Can't I just sleep in for a few more minutes?"

"Peter!" Ray tapped the man on his shoulder. "We're at the house that has the temporal displacement. Now get out of the car, grab your proton pack, and lets get to work."

"Ugh!" Peter groaned again. "Okay, okay."

As the ghostbusters slipped on their equipment, Egon took the lead while reading the P.K.E. meter while the other three were in the back with their proton guns out and charged, ready for anything to happen.

"Nice place," Peter looked as he saw the house as more of a pile of rubble ready to break apart. "The decorator did a nice job."

Winston added his own comment. "I just hope this place doesn't collapse while we're in it."

As they approached the front door, Ray tried to open the door but couldn't. He then decided to use some heroics and charged at the door, only to have the door open and him falling on the ground.

Peter grabbed the man. "Nice job Ray. Next time when we need you to do something stupid, we'll call you."

As Egon tried to track down exactly where the disturbance was in the house, the rest of the ghostbusters stared to walk around. "Uh guys, I don't think we should split up,"

"Relax Egon," Winston said. "We'll be fine……"

Suddenly several walls came up from the ground and formed a barrier, trapping all four ghostbusters in different sections of the house. Egon looked at the room he was in that now included walls. The only thing he could do now is go up the stairs since he couldn't walk to other parts of the house. Egon shook his head and sighed. "They never listen."

"Hey," Winston yelled. He started to hit the wall with sides of his fists but nothing was happening. "Egon, Ray, Peter. Anybody?" But it was no use. Winston was trapped in a room and no one could hear him.

"Boy this is just great," Ray complained as he was trying to find a way out of the entrapment that encased him. He powered up his proton blaster and fired at the wall, hoping to break it, but nothing happened. "Tough little wall aren't you?" He looked around and started walking. "Wish I brought my ectoscopes to analyze what that wall was made of, but naturally I left them back at the office."

Peter, on the other hand, wasn't as calm as the others. He was more annoyed and ticked off compared to the other three. "This might be a trap, and I hate traps," he was walking around to the kitchen. "Wait a minute Venkman. We're at a house with something bad, walls just came up from the ground trapping everyone in a different section, and you're saying this might be a trap? No wonder Egon makes fun of your intelligence," Peter was now talking to himself about himself, which struck Peter again as odd that a man would be talking about himself as a separate individual. He decided to brush off what he said and made his way inside the kitchen.

Peter walked right next to the refrigerator and suddenly started to feel hungry, only realizing he had not eaten any dinner for the night. "Hope somebody cooked something good." He reached for the door and opened it to only find a bare empty refrigerator. "No food for the guests? Come on!" He slammed the door shut.

"What did you say?" A voice low and deep said as Peter turned around and stared at the appliance.

"You talkin' to me?" Peter was doing bad impersonation of Robert De Niro. He stared at the refrigerator for a few seconds, shrugged his shoulder, and started to move away from it.

"Yes I am." The voice said again, this time a little more agitated.

"Ah ha!" Peter snapped his fingers. "So you can talk. But where is the voice coming from?" He started to look around the refrigerator before the door itself opened and sent Peter hitting the ground.

Still on the ground, Peter looked at the appliance. "Alright, this means war!" As he grabbed the proton blaster from the back of his pack, a gigantic purple hand with sharp claws grabbed him and pulled him into the refrigerator. The door shut leaving no one in the kitchen.

************

Winston was walking around in the living room area, getting nowhere since he was cut off from the other rooms. He wondered what was happening with the rest of the guys. He hoped everyone was okay and not in any danger.

Since he couldn't do anything else, Winston decided to sit down in one of the chairs. He propped his feet on one of the stools and started to shut his eyes as he was getting comfortable, even if he had a proton back on the back of him.

As he started to daze out, he felt some hands grab him around his legs. "What in the world?" Winston looked down and saw some more hands grab him around his waist. They were pueple in color, big and menacing, with sharp claws for fingernails. "Hey, let go of me!" He tried to break away from the hands but couldn't. In the end Winston was pushed inside the chair he was sitting in by the hands and disappeared. The hands disappeared from where the came from leaving an empty living room.

*************

Ray was still holding his proton blaster as he searched around the house. He walked around and came across the laundry room along with an old garage. Ray looked around and saw an old car. "Wow, an old Ford Fairlane!" Ray quickly rushed over to the car which looked like time had not been good to it. "My dad used to drive one of these things when I was a kid." He started to look around to see if he could indicate what year the car was. Ray figured it was built around in the mid to late fifties. Ray always had a fascination for cars, especially since he was the one that restored Ecto 1 to what it is now and would always repair it and make little adjustments every here and there when the car needed it. He even felt Ecto was part of the family. Even Winston, who would make repairs on the car every so often, also thought the car was part of the family, though Egon and Peter regarded Ecto as just a car and nothing.

Ray put the proton blaster on a hook on his belt and got into the drivers side of the Ford. He started to push the gas pedal and pretended to drive the car, even though it wasn't moving. To Ray, he was reliving being a child while being inside of the car. As Ray continued to pretend he was driving, he glanced at the rearview mirror and saw three eyes glowing red. Ray quickly gasped as his heart started to pound heavily and looked back, but to his surprise he saw nothing. "Huh, I could have sworn I saw something. Must be all of this excitement being in this old car."

He quickly turned his attention back and started to pretend again that he was driving the car. He glanced in the rearview mirror again and saw three eyes glowing red again. This time Ray knew his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. He turned his head back around and saw the three eyes staring at him. "Oh my…." But before Ray could finish his sentence, the ghost's mouth appeared and swallowed the ghostbuster, starting from head moving all the way to the toes and then disappeared.

************

Egon was moving up the stairs cautiously as he continued to look at the meter. As he approached the top of the stairs, the meter started to flash even more heavily. Egon knew the disturbance he was tracking was right in front of him.

As Egon walked into a bedroom where the P.K.E. meter was indicating the disturbance was, he saw Peter, Ray, and Winston in a corner. "Oh no!" Egon cried out as he moved over to his friends, forgetting the disturbance he was tracking down in the room and losing focus. He checked the pulses of all three to make sure they were alive, which they were. "Guys, wake up," Egon looked at the three who were on the floor in the corner.

The three busters started to open up their eyes and come back to their senses.

"What happened?" Ray asked.

"All I can remember is sitting down and the next thing I know a bunch of hands grabbed me and pulled me in a chair," Winston was slowly getting up.

"Just a few more minutes mom, please," Peter was trying to wave off Egon who he assumed was his mother so he could try to get some more sleep.

"Peter get up," Egon said annoyingly at the man.

Peter opened his eyes and looked around. "Oh yeah, we're still here in the loony house of horrors."

Egon turned to the three men. "This is where the focal point of the disturbance is."

"I bet that ghost that I saw is behind all of this," Ray said.

"Correct………………." A low deep voice said.

"Hey, that's the voice I heard when I was in the kitchen," Peter just realized.

Suddenly the ghost appeared in front of the four ghostbusters. As before, it still had it's appearance of purple skin, four pairs of arms, and three eyes.

"I trapped you all and brought you in this room to destroy you all once and for all, that way I can break free from this time imprisonment and destroy this city and then the rest of the world," the ghost had the four ghostbusters cornered as it told its plan on what it was going to do. "I kill the four of you before midnight, and then I can be free to rage destruction on all the flesh heads out there."

"And all this time I was thinking you were going to go to Miami to get some sun after you got rid of us," Peter mused with his sarcastic nature. "Looks like we've been fooled."

The ghost was turning dark purple as it was getting upset from Peter's remarks.

Ray checked his watch. It read 11: 55. Five minutes before the ghost could break free from his time imprisonment. He looked at Winston and Egon and quietly told them they have five minutes left.

The ghost looked at Peter. "I will have the pleasure of destroying you first since you irritate me greatly." Suddenly several streams hit the ghost. The ghost cried out in pain but flew away.

The walls in the house disappeared and the ground started to shake. The ghostbusters moved around a bit before the floor started to disappear and a large mouth, like the first time they encountered it, started to form.

"I have the distinct possibility we've been in this situation before," Egon was remembering bits and pieces of what happened before.

"Quick, the window!" Winston shouted as he looked at the window that was disappearing.

The four ghostbusters ran as fast as they could to the window, but the problem was they were on the second floor and if they jumped they would injury themselves.

"Now what do we do?" Ray was about to call in defeat.

Peter noticed the power line wire. "The power lines, grab them!"

Without missing a beat, the four ghostbusters grabbed the power lines and moved out of the house just in time to see the window disappear. With the weight of the four men, the power lines broke in two sending the ghostbusters hitting the ground.

Before they could react to the pain they were in, they saw the ghost manifest itself as it yelled out a thunderous roar that echoed through the deserted neighborhood. The ghostbusters quickly got up as the ghost started to chase after them and headed for Ecto 1.

Ray got in the drivers seat with Peter right next to him riding shotgun. Egon and Winston were in the back.

"Quick Ray, start the car and get us out of here!" Egon was more frightened than ever.

Thankfully, Winston left the keys inside the car before heading in the house. Ray started the car and peeled rubber. As they sped away, Peter, Winston, and Egon saw the ghost in the distance trying to fly as fast as it could to try to catch up to them.

"At least we now know we have to trap that thing in order to stop this mess," Peter said as he looked at Egon.

But before Egon could say anything, Ray's watch beeped, indicating it was now midnight and the four ghostbusters disappeared, only to repeat the events again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Firehouse**

Egon was near Janine's desk talking to Ray while Slimer was eating a bag of potato chips. "I'm thinking about checking on the equipment down in the containment system, just to make sure all the systems are up to speck."

Ray nodded in agreement. "Good idea. We've been so busy lately that we haven't had time to do those checks." Ray started to walk. "I'll help you when I get back."

Egon looked at the scientist. "Where are you going?" Egon paused for a brief second before it dawned on him. "You're going to go to the gym, aren't you?"

Ray was baffled as to how Egon knew where he was going. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"I think we've had this conversation before," Egon somewhat explained although Ray was still confused as to how the man knew where he was going to go.

As the two of them walked over past Janine's desk, they saw Peter and Winston moving towards them.

"Peter and I are going to go rent some movies for tonight since we all agreed to be off," Winston replied. "Anybody want a particular movie?"

Peter padded Winston on the shoulder. "Hold on a minute, why do I have to go. Just let Ray come with you."

"I would but Ray is about to go work out," Winston responded.

"Okay," Peter decided to move onto another person, or rather thing. "Get green stuff here to go with you."

Slimer moved over to Peter instantly after hearing Peter talking about him. Peter put up his hands and gave a swooshing gesture, telling Slimer to buzz off.

Ray did a double take on the comment Winston just said. "How did you know that I was going to the gym? I haven't told anyone and yet you and Egon know I'm going. What's going on here?"

Something just crossed Peter's mind while Ray was talking. "Ray, you're going to the gym and I bet I know what you're about to do Egon." Peter paused for a brief second and continued. "You're going to check the equipment in the containment system since we haven't had the time."

With the premonition Peter mentioned Egon simply nodded in agreement.

"Okay, hold up everybody," Janine got off of her chair and started to pace around the room. "How does everybody know what everyone's plans are for the evening? Is this some sort of stunt you all are playing with me?

"You going to answer the lady or what?" Peter looked at Egon's general direction, knowing the man had an answer for everything.

"This is really strange," Egon stated.

"That point is very obvious," Winston slyly remarked.

Egon continued. "It seems we have a connection of past events and know what we all are planning to do."

Janine started to speak. "Well let's try this then. What am I going to do?"

"That's simple Janine," Egon started up again. "You're going to read the newspaper. You're going to read an article about a man robbing a bank but gets caught because his car doesn't stop because of engine trouble."

Janine couldn't put the pieces as to how Egon knew what she was going to do, but even she knew she was going to read the same exact article. "This is just too unreal for me to handle." She paused for a moment. "Can I have the rest of the day off? There's this beauty saloon I've been wanting to go to and…."

Peter put his right arm around the secretary. "Sorry J-babe, but if we have to work, you have to work." He then looked at the others. "Do we have to work?"

"Peter!" Winston sighed. "We need to get serious about this."

"Hey, I was serious!" The others decided it would be best to move on from Peter's usual comments.

Egon started to head over to the stairs. "Gentlemen and Janine, follow me upstairs to my lab."

"Oh goody, fun time," Peter walked up the stairs with the others.

Egon was doing the same thing as he did previously during the time loop, typing on the keyboard, trying to figure out what was going on while the others were standing behind him.

"Hmmm…" Egon murmured to himself.

"Wha'cha find out?" Janine looked at the man who wouldn't give him the time of day to notice her, even if she was naked, sitting at her reception desk.

"There seems to be some sharp spikes indicating a temporal displacement that is happening around the city," Egon responded while looking at the information on his computer.

"Are these temporal whatevers all over the city?" Winston wondered.

"Temporal displacement," Egon corrected the man again. "Didn't I correct you on that before?"

Winston gave a halfway nod but didn't say anything else.

Egon continued. "The temporal displacement is affecting the entire city. Everyone is doing the same thing over and over again. I'm sure they're having similar reactions to having done the same thing before like we're having."

"Here's a conversation two people are having," Peter decided to amuse himself and annoy the others. "What's wrong with you food Bill? Don't you like it? I didn't like it the last time you cooked it for me Martha. I wish you could cook something else instead of this every time we repeat time. By the way Martha, I'm not in the mood tonight just like the last time we repeated this day."

Egon gave Peter a sharp glare. "You finished or is there another act?"

Peter gave a sly smile. "Hey, just trying to add some humor."

"Egon, do you know what is causing this problem?" Janine wondered.

Ray snapped his fingers. "It has to be that ghost we've been trying to bag the last few times we've been through this situation."

Winston remembered about the ghost also. "And it's the same ghost Peter and I tried to nab when we were coming back from renting videos."

"Hey, now I remember," Peter decided to now join in the conversation. "I believe we concluded the only way to stop the repeat of time is to capture and trap this ghost."

Janine started to speak. "But it seems like you guys have been unsuccessful. That's why we're still here."

"Yeah, blewweee eeeesss swiiiillll heeeerrreeeee," Slimer echoing what Janine just said.

Something started to change on the computer as something new appeared on screen. "That's odd," Egon was surprised at what he saw. "I was trying to find the exact location of where the center of the temporal displacement was coming. It was coming from a house off of Belview Drive and then all of a sudden the center moved to a new location."

"Maybe it's shy and wants you to find it," Peter went back to jabbering again.

Suddenly the phone rang. Janine went over to it by Egon's lab desk and picked it up. "Ghostbusters," she grabbed a piece of paper and something to write with out of natural habit. She started to jot some information down on the piece of paper. "Of course, they're on their way." She hung up the phone and walked over to the guys.

"What's going on Janine?" Ray asked.

"Got a live one guys," the secretary said. "Some ghost is at a bakery and having its just desserts. The location is several miles away. Here's the address."

Peter got the piece of a paper with the information.

"This is going to be the same ghost Peter and I fought before coming back from the video store," Winston responded.

"Then lets roll," Peter said as he was the first one to exit the room and walk down the stairs.

The four ghostbusters put on their respective colored uniforms which were originally all gray but received new ones once they got done battling with Gozer. They all put on their elbow pads and their belt buckle that contained a key chain and gizmo circuit board on the left side.

"I'll drive gentlemen," Egon said as he got in the drivers seat. Peter sat in the front while Ray and Winston got in the back.

After Egon started the car, the lights flashed, the siren roared, and the car zipped out of the fire house.


	6. Chapter 6

**New York Streets**

As Egon drove the car to get to the bakery, the others were in mid conversation.

"I don't remember us all going to the bakery to bag the ghost," Winston said.

Peter turned around to the back and looked at Winston. "Neither do I. Maybe that's a good thing?"

Winston nodded. Maybe this time they could be victorious in stopping this ghost after all and ending the temporal displacement. But on the other hand, if they were to lose in some way against the ghost, then they would repeat the events over again, assuming if they didn't die by the hands of the ghost or something else that would eliminate them out of the picture.

"I'm already revved up for this," Ray was as impatient as a kid wanting to open up his Christmas day presents just to see what he got.

"Could be that burrito you ate for lunch," Peter made another pun at his friend as he looked back at the man and smiles. Ray just ignored his comment.

Egon put the brakes on the car and saw people running away screaming. A few people gave thumbs up signs or gave a friendly pat on the car to acknowledge the ghostbusters for coming.

"Wow, look at all the people running!" Ray was eying everyone that was running past them screaming for their lives.

"That's what most people do when they're scared Ray," Peter sarcastically commented.

All four got out of Ecto-1 as they continued to see the commotion of people run away like a cow stampede. One of the frightened people, a man, ran over to Egon. "You got to go in there! That, thing, it's eating everything in sight!"

Peter looked at Egon. "Sounds like the spud."

Egon calmly tried to ease the tension the man was having. "Don't worry sir, that's why we're here. We'll nab the ghost in no time." Although Egon did not have a time table on how long it would take to capture the ghost, he hoped it wouldn't be too difficult of a case.

"Time go to go work," Peter nodded to his friends.

All four ghostbusters went to the back of the car, grabbed their proton packs, suited up, and went into the bakery. Egon was using his P.K.E. meter to track the ghost, although the four already found the ghost eating a bunch of cakes at a nearby display case. "Curious, the meter has the ghost at a class six, but the classification isn't fixed. It's as if the ghost is changing the strength of itself."

"But how in the world can a ghost do that?" In the years Ray has been in the business, he has never encountered a ghost that can change its classification.

Egon shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know Raymond, but this is very, very strange."

"Enough with the scientific questions, let's earn some money," Peter said as he powered up his proton blaster.

Winston looked at the other three and then back at the ghost that was devouring all the food it could get its hands on. "On a count of three, one, two, three!" Four particle streams flew at the ghost as it had not been aware of the ghostbusters in the same room with them. The ghost cried out as the streams hit him in the back, however, the ghost somewhere was able to dodge the beams away and moved past the ghostbusters to another part of the bakery.

"We missed!" Winston was annoyed. "Seems like we've been through this road before." Peter nodded as he walked up to Winston. The scenario was almost similar to the one the two had been through before, only this time with Ray and Egon.

"Well he has to be around here somewhere," Ray was looking around. "This place isn't very big."

Egon grabbed his meter and started to scan the room. He pointed to the direction the ghost was out to tell his companions to start moving over there. As they got to the area of where the ghost was located, Winston got a trap from the back of his proton back and laid it out on the floor. Peter lifted up his fingers and did a silent starting at three and then fired upon the general area the ghost was at. As before, the ghost came out of it's hiding place, screaming at the pain the streams were having on his body, and quickly few past the ghostbusters.

"Quick, after him!" Ray did not waste anytime.

Winston quickly picked up the trap and the ghostbusters ran out of the bakery. They found the ghost flying past Ecto-1, passing by several people who decided to witness the ghostbusters latest ghost capture, though they ran for their lives once they saw the ghost fly past them.

"Peter, drive!" Egon said as he got into the back. Peter got behind the wheel with Ray in front. "Winston, get in the back and help me."

Peter started the car, pushed the gas pedal, and Ecto-1 started its trek to get the ghost.

Ray turned his head around and looked at what Winston and Egon were doing. Both men were getting the proton cannon, a device the ghostbusters use occasionally to capture ghosts that tend to be difficult to capture. "Egon, you're brilliant!"

"Hopefully this thing will work," Egon was continuing to adjust some of the settings on the proton gun.

"Good because we're nearing fun-boy up ahead," Peter said as he was closing in on the ghost.

Egon and Winston finished making the adjustments on the proton cannon and hoisted the device on top of the car. "Try not to kill me with your driving Peter!" Egon said from atop of the car.

"I make no promises!" Peter was playing with his friend as he continued to drive.

Winston put a small scope on his proton blaster to get a better visual so he could get a clear shot at the ghost while he and Egon were on roof. "Fry em'!" Two streams flew at the direction of the ghost as Ecto-1 was right next to the ghost this time. The ghost cried out as the two beams hit him. This time the ghost could not break away from the streams as it struggled to get away free.

Peter stopped the car. Ray quickly grabbed a trap, got out of the car, and kicked it in the direction of the ghost. "Trap out!" Ray said. As the ghostbusters were about to call this case complete, Peter looked from the side view mirror and saw a truck coming towards them as it was also honking at the ghostbusters to get out of the way. Without hesitation, Peter quickly moved the car out of the way but in the process caused the streams break away causing the ghost to fly away to safety. Peter looked back as he saw the truck drive past him and his friends.

Winston pounded his fist on the proton cannon. "Of all the things that could have happened!"

"We were this close into getting the little slime blower," Ray shook his head.

Peter sighed and apologized "Sorry guys, but that truck would have made us into swiss cheese if I didn't get out of the way."

"It's not your fault Peter," Egon reassured his friend.

"So now what?" Ray was open to suggestions.

"I say the thing is going back to that house we keep on going to," Peter said. The others agreed.

"Then that's where we're going to," Winston said as he and the others got back in the car. "Let's go Peter."

**House**

Peter pulled right next to the house they had been to previously. They already knew the street name and the address of the where the house was at, so there wasn't any second guessing from any of the ghostbusters. Winston, Peter, and Ray grabbed their proton packs while Egon got on top of the car and positioned the proton cannon at the house.

"Not going with us Egon? Peter looked at the blond haired man.

"If memory serves me correctly, every single time we go into that house, we always loose and events keep repeating all over again," Egon explained.

"Yeah, so what's your point?" Peter was not following what he was getting at.

"So, if we stay here and blast at the house, perhaps we can draw the ghost out and capture him," Egon concluded his theory.

"I like it," Winston nodded. "I'll try anything. Good thinking Egon."

Egon grabbed the P.K.E. meter and did a reading of the house. "Our ghost is definitely in there, but the meter is having a problem with his classification.

"We'll ask him why the sudden changes right before we trap him," Peter joked.

Ray, Winston, and Peter aimed their proton blasters at the house while Egon had the proton cannon aimed at house. "Alright, this time, no fooling around," Ray said. "Fire!" Four streams hit the house causing the old paint to fly off and parts of the house to start falling. The house started to change colors from white, to blue, to red. The ghostbusters stopped their firing.

"Is the house supposed to do that?" Winston questioned. But before anyone could say anything, a voice came yelling at the four.

"You will finally be destroyed once and for all!" The low voice said.

"Come on out, it's play time for you big boy!" Peter was trying to tick off the ghost.

The house started to ooze out green slime, the stuff coming out of the windows and out of the front door. Three eyes appeared glowing red from the front door. Sure enough, what Peter said ticked the thing off. The eyes disappeared and the green slimed stopped. The house burst and was shredded away as the ghost, four times the originally size the ghostbusters had fought back at the bakery, broke out and yelled at the four. His hands nearly grabbed the three ghostbusters on the ground but Egon fired on the ghost with the proton gun. The ghost stopped it's attack on the other three, just enough time for them to join in on capturing the ghost.

"Aim at the ghost and this time, we get him!" Ray said. The three ghostbusters fired streams at the ghost while Egon continued to fire at the ghost with the cannon. The ghost winced with pain as it had nowhere to go. Even with it being four time it's original size, it was weaker.

"Time for the trap!" Egon said from the top of the car.

"Winston my man, do it!" Peter said as he continued to fire.

Winston grabbed a trap from the back of his proton pack and slid it to where the ghost was at. "Trap out!"

"Hit it Winston!" Ray said. Winston acknowledged and hit the pedal causing the trap to open up. The ghost tried his best to break away from the streams but couldn't and quickly dispersed into the trap. The ghostbusters stopped their firing and celebrated.

"We did it!" Peter gave a high five to Winston.

Ray checked his watch to see what the time was. It said it was fifteen minutes before midnight but the time did not matter anymore.

Winston grabbed the trap and looked at his friends. "Come on guys, let's go home."

**Later on…**

"What's the time now Ray? Peter said as he looked at his friend while continuing to drive back to the fire house.

Ray looked at his watch and smiled at the guys. "It's 12:03 am, the next day."

"Alright!" Winston cheered. "We don't have to go through this whole temporal whatever again, and again, and again."

"Temporal displacement," Egon felt the need to correct Winston yet again.

Winston shook his head. "Any of you want to sit back here with Egon? He's feeling the need to be arrogant and smart again."

"Well guys, the night's young and we just busted up a ghost," Peter said. "What do you want to do?"

It didn't take more than a mere second for everyone to think what they wanted to do. "Go to bed!" The three answered to Peter.

Peter smiled. "That's the answer I was hoping to get!"


End file.
